ANCIENT County Investment Inc., in Tarlogie Farm, Corentyne, has taken the spotlight from the Mahaicony Rice Limited’s (MRL) as a delinquent in paying rice farmers.

And head of the Guyana Rice Producers Association (GRPA), Dharamkumar Seeraj, has said that legal action will begin today.

Some $300M is still owed to farmers, with only $16M being paid to date.
Seeraj explained this is despite the fact that RPA $167M to the company’s account through a loan in an effort to speed up the payment process, since management, after a meeting, indicated the company was experiencing cash-flow problems.
Several efforts by the Guyana Chronicle to contact representatives of the company to ascertain why the $167M was not used to pay farmers proved futile.
Ancient County Investment Inc., according to Seeraj, will be recommended to the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) for blacklisting in relation to supplying rice to fill Guyana’s export quota to Venezuela.
As at December 18, all rice farmers were expected to be paid off principal amounts, leaving only the matter of interest on outstanding payments to be addressed
The RPA head, in a prior interview, told the Chronicle that payment of the principal amounts was not foreseen as a challenge as shipments to export markets were being made without any hitches.
Over the weekend, dozens of farmers protested at the Ancient County Investment Inc. base, contending that the cheques issued by the company had “bounced” when presented at the bank.
The protesting farmers were even more peeved when they were told that the company will not be conducting business that day and therefore they could not meet with any representative.
Even as the performance of the rice sector has topped yearly targets, with 2013’s production coming in at over 530,000 tonnes, the issue of non-payment to farmers remains a major challenge for the industry.

(By Vanessa Narine)